Life Support
by TheTrueOverlordBear
Summary: Homura Akemi lived the majority of her life on two kinds of life support. One was the literal kind, which was a set of equipment that she hated. The other was the figurative kind, which was the only person that she loved. Major anime and Rebellion movie spoilers up ahead.


**Author's Note: **Neru's "Enmei Chiryou" reminded me of Homura Akemi. I highly recommend that you listen to that song as you read this PMMM fanfiction.

* * *

Homura Akemi hated the hospital.

"Hmph."

Having woken up again in a new timeline, she was now back in that loathsome place. Those medical equipment...and everything else in her room...She felt like they were insulting her.

"Hey, shouldn't you be staying here?" the bed seemed to ask her. "Your heart's pretty weak, you know."

"Whoa there, little girl," the intravenous connection seemed to call out. "Don't even think about taking off your life support, 'cause you're so pathetic without me!"

"Hey, Homura," the oxygen tank hissed as the girl got off of her bed. "I hope your lungs can take a lot of air. You suck so hard, but it seems like your lung capacity can't keep up with your sucking! You freaking suck! REALLY HARD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Shut up," Homura muttered angrily as she loosened her braids and took off her glasses.

"Homura, you look more wilted than I am right now," the flowers sneered.

"You black out faster than I do!" the light bulb boasted. "Ah, this is a very glorious moment for us lowly light bulbs right now: A light bulb remaining conscious longer than a human!"

"Shut. Up." Homura declared with gritted teeth.

"What a loser!"

"Looping time over and over, how cowardly!"

"You really can't move on in life, huh?"

"Would Madoka really like you with that stupid waste of a mask that you're wearing?"

The room around her was insulting her. Everything about her hospital room was gnawing at her self-confidence yet again. She could have fallen to her knees and covered her ears, but...

_Degrading into a Witch is a waste of time._

Homura's expression became cold and hard like icy steel. She took a deep breath, attempting to shut out the insults of her surroundings.

"You know why you can't make friends, Homura?"

"Because you're just looking at Madoka!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Her eyesight's poorer than we actually thought!"

Feeling her Soul Gem darkening gradually, Homura decided to take drastic measures. Her body became bathed in purple light, and then it dispersed, showing that her transformation into her Magical Girl outfit was now complete.

"Magical Girl? More like Magical Dirt!"

"Look at her looking all fancy! Cool outside, but lame inside!"

"I wonder how you'll look if you decide to kill yourself?"

"Who would even want to look at someone as worthless as her?"

"..."

Homura closed her eyes. She replaced the sounds of insults in her mind with the sounds of explosions. Yes, explosions. That should do.

Turning her shield yet again, the second hand stopped. Homura then put her hand into the dimension inside her shield, quickly taking a number of stolen hand grenades out. She threw them into the air, where they froze as they left her hands. She pulled the pins out as quickly as she took them out, and then she put them on the flowers, near the light bulb, on the bed, beside the oxygen tank, beside the IV, everywhere in the loathsome room.

Then, she opened the window and jumped out through it. She landed safely on the ground, and then she began running quickly as she let the second hand advance again.

Forgetting the insulting room and focusing on saving Madoka, Homura began to plan once again as the hospital room that she left behind exploded loudly.

* * *

"..."

_Another dead end,_ Homura Akemi thought as she faced Walpurgisnacht yet again. Standing upside-down, with its lower half-a bunch of big gears-spinning under her dress, the Stage-Constructing Witch cackled as it and its procession of familiars ravaged the city of Mitakihara.

"Tch."

Homura Akemi then moved her gaze to Madoka Kaname.

Madoka had contracted with Kyubey. That was strike one.

Madoka had fought and defeated Walpurgisnacht. That was strike two.

Madoka had transformed into the Witch of Salvation, Kriemhild Gretchen. That was strike three.

How many outs has Homura experienced? She never cared about the number anymore.

Still, it felt too much for her already. Her life support, Madoka, had become destroyed again. Burning rage was building up in Homura's heart. The usually stoic Magical Girl now had an eye that was twitching and a fist that was shaking. _Take me away from here, already. Please, make this end already. I'm so useless, stupid, worthless, I want to die, I want to die, I want to-No. I need to save Madoka. I can still save her. Without her, my life is worthless. I can still save her. Why am I failing, though? I can still save her, I must save her, I need to save her!_

Homura, who had closed her eyes as she went into thought, opened her eyes and faced Madoka's Witch form with an expression as cold and hard as icy steel. Attempting to shut out the negativity that was gnawing on her composure, she took out and unpinned a bunch of hand grenades yet again, throwing them to the sky above her.

"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Before she stopped and rewound time, though, Homura decided to vent out her remaining rage and self-loathing by scattering explosives into the air.

One explosion towards her stupidity.

One explosion towards her regret.

One explosion towards her physical weakness.

One explosion towards her failure.

One explosion towards her dependence on others.

One explosion towards her worthless existence.

Before the negativity could continue on its gnawing, however, Homura shut it out again and turned her shield.

Still, the negativity managed to break through again as Homura suddenly remembered:

_Damned hospital room...Someone...anyone...please...take me away from that disgusting place._

* * *

"Homura Akemi. I will not stand for your tyrannical reign."

_I guess this was inevitable,_ the demon named Homura Akemi thought. _I only wanted my own happiness, and I believe that this is the right path. A path where Madoka, and the whole world, is under my will. A path where only Madoka and her happiness matters..._

Standing with her back facing the reawakened embodiment of hope named Madoka Kaname, Homura Akemi remained silent, deep in self-centered thought.

_...even if I become her enemy...even if she decides to kill me...I will do it...as long as it makes her happy..._

"Homura Akemi," said the golden-eyed Madoka, who was now wearing her majestic white dress.

"...Yes, my dear Madoka?" asked the stone-hearted Homura, who was wearing her revealing black dress.

"Why? Why did you do that?" Madoka asked, filled with seriousness, sadness, and anger.

"I did it for your...no, I did it for my happiness." Homura's voice replied, filled with resignation, self-hatred, and coldness.

"..."

"..."

Silence passed by between the two as they stood on one of the tallest buildings in the fake Mitakihara created by Homura.

"...Face me, Homura Akemi," Madoka commanded, breaking the silence. "And please answer this question: Will you stop doing this?"

"..."

Homura smiled.

_The answer to that is already obvious, Madoka. I do not see any other way for me to be happy._

"No."

The demon then turned to face the embodiment of hope. As she slowly turned, she heard the sound of something materializing, along with the sound of a bowstring being pulled.

"Then I shall erase you from this world," Madoka declared, bow and arrow at the ready. "No matter how many times you come back and try to bring this world into chaos, I will be always be there to stop you."

The arrows launched immediately after Madoka's speech ended.

"...ugh."

Black blood flowed out of the corners of Homura's mouth after the arrow of light pierced her abdomen. Her body, which was stained with her own black blood, also began to fade to black along with the fading of the arrows of light.

_It's all my fault. It's all my fault._

The illusory world began to crack.

_This was bound to happen._

A tear of black blood streamed out of the corner of Homura's right eye.

_Regret..._

Memories flashed in Homura's mind. That precious first meeting, those attempts to save her, her transformation into an embodiment of hope, the hunt for the anomalous Witch that persisted in her hopeful world, the discovery of that anomalous Witch, her transformation into a Witch, her degradation into a demon...It was getting hard for Homura to remember. The memories were now becoming hazy.

_...It hurts..._

As the roll of film containing past memories was projected on the screen of Homura's mind, the projector was breaking down from all the regret, all the self-hatred, all the despair, all the negativity...turning the forms of the various people that she had met, and also her own past forms, into hazy blurs.

_But still...as long as Madoka is happy..._

Madoka. The girl named Madoka Kaname was the only form who was not affected by the projector's breakdown. Her shyness, her bravery, her hope, her selflessness...They all made Homura's form blur even more.

_...I'm happy...right? As long as I am defeated, she will be happy...right?_

As the demon named Homura Akemi fell and faded into the darkness, she smiled.

_Of course. If that makes her happy, then...I'll come back to torment her...so that she can defeat me again. She'll be happy...and I'll be happy..._

_She'll be happy...and I'll be happy..._

_She'll be happy...and I'll be happy..._

_I don't want to leave this path...I will never leave this path...I can never leave this path._

_Madoka...my dear life support...my one and only life support...my perfect life support...prolong my life...please._

After silently declaring her wish, Homura Akemi's illusory world completely shattered and vanished, leaving the true world to shine its light through the haze of lies.

_Madoka...please...prolong my life...and make me happy...please...please..._


End file.
